$100m graft: Man gets 6 months
2005-11-22 22:32
Abuja - A former Nigerian police chief was convicted of graft on Tuesday and sentenced to six months in jail for stealing over $100m during his three-year tenure as the country's top police official.
Prosecutors said Tafa Balogun extorted the equivalent of $121m.
Judge Binta Murtala-Nyako sentenced him to eight six-month sentences to be served concurrently.
He also ordered Balogun to surrender some of his financial assets, including a shopping mall.
Balogun was arrested earlier this year after being forced to resign as police chief over corruption allegations that emerged in an anti-fraud drive by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
He is the only senior official convicted for corruption since Obasanjo was voted into power in 1999.
"I find it necessary to send a signal to the whole country that no matter how highly placed, nobody is above the law, and that this country is serious in its war against corruption," Murtala-Nyako said before handing down the sentence.
Balogun changed his plea to guilty on Monday just before the sentence was issued.
The judge said he took into consideration that Balogun was a first-time offender and that he "has shown remorse all through the trial".
Murtala-Nyako also ruled on a further 48 charges brought against companies linked to Balogun, ordering that all their assets be handed over to the government.
- AP